21L.003 Reading Fiction

Prereq: none
Units: 3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H

A handful of great novels from a golden age in English fiction,1815-1890.  We’ll study Jane Austen’s Emma (1815), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1831 edition), Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847), Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1860-61), and Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886). Topics will include: women’s place and power in society; social class relations and conflicts; the evolution of realism in fiction; the novel of character development (Bildungsroman). Some attention will be paid to the historical context in which these works were written, but the main emphasis will be on learning to read some classic texts with insight and appreciation.

In keeping with its CI-H designation, this class will include substantial writing and will feature at least one student oral presentation. [Pre-1900]